Safety razor



. Jan. 20, 1942. s. c. STAMPLEMAN SAFETY RAZOR Filed Aug. 9, 1938 INVENTOR ATTOR EY Patented Jan. 20, 1942 OFFICE i Samuel C. Stampleman, Cohasset, Masa, assignor Razor Company, Boston,

Mass'., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationAu gust 9, 1938, Serial No. 223,893 l to Gillette 'Safety 5 Claims.

for support between cap and guard members. The present invention relates more particularly to the structure of. these members and its general object, is;t0. provide a construction in which sheet metal may be utilized as distinguished from the solid swaged or machined constructions heretofore used. r i

The cap and guard members are relied upon not only for shapingand supporting the thin flexible cutting bladewhen it is clamped between.

them for shaving but they determine also the edge exposure of the razor. This is a critical dimension since too great edge exposure renders the razor dangerous and too little exposure ren- ((31.30-72) This invention relates to safety razors of the type-in which a thin flexible blade is clamped or largely reducing movement ofthe razor which is likely to result in cutting. the user.

These'and otherfeatures of the invention, will be best understood andappreciated from the foltion on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

,lowing description of apreferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes ofillustration and shown in the accompanying drawing in .Which- Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the complete safetyrazor. Q g, r Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe capmember. Fig. 3 is a view of the cap in longitudinal secmg. 4 isa view or the cap in cross section on Fig.5 is a plan view of the guard with itsouter face exposed. I

ders it uncomfortable and inefficient in shaving. it

A The tolerance limits for edge exposure are in the orderof .001' to .002" and it is, consequently,

important that the cap and guard should be should be of sufliciently rigid construction-to 20 manufactured with considerable accuracyand maintain their shape without variation during the-life ofthe razor. On account of these considerations it has been the practice heretofore to fashion the cap and a guard members from" solid stock as by swa'ging or machining bar stock.

Sheet metal has not; heretofore been considered entirely satisfactory as a material for these uses.

I have discovered. however, that by providing a suitable stiffening configuration I am able to construct from'sheetmetal ofuniform thickness 7 Fig. 6 is a Planview of the guardwith its inner c e o d- Fig. 7 is a, view of the guard section on the line 1-1, of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a. view of the guard in central cross iii-longitudinal section.

Fig. 9fis a view of the guard in cross. section on the line 9-9 of Fig.5.

section and in longitudinal section of the safety.

Figures 10 and 11 are respective views cross razor.

Fig. 121. aview of theblade, m n Fig. 13 is across-sectional view. of one side of the safety razor 0mm line 9-9 of Fig. 5,but'

on a greatly enlarged scale.

blade supporting members which answer all the exacting requirements of the razor industry.

Asillustrating one: useful application of my.

invention, I-have herein shown a safety razor having a sheet metal guardmember which is stifienedby the walls of an elongated depression moulded or otherwise formed in the body of the against being deformedjeither longitudinally or transversely. As preferred and as herein shown the depression is made diamond-shaped and utilized for the,additional'functionof receiving the blade-locatingrib of the cap. The walls of the recess. moreover, are arranged "to convergeand are slottedat their end portions to engage the'ends of the rib of the cap and so positionthe cap accurately in the razor assembly.

. 0 blankand serving to stiifen it in a marked degree In the safety razorselected to illustrate my in- .vention the cap ill is rectangular in outline and presents an inner concave blade-engaging surface. The outer surface of the cap is convex and the cap as a whole tapers transversely towardboth with a central threadedstud H and with a centrally'disposed elongated upstanding rib II, de-

its marginal edges. It isprovided signed to engage a slot in the blade and'soiocate the blade accurately upon .the. cap. The illustrated razor is designedfor use with double edge I As a further and optional'feature of the invention I propose to suppiya face-engaging p'ortion of the guard with transverse grooves or scorings tending to oppose longitudinal slipping blades, such for example-as the blade 23 shown in Fig.- 12. This blade has an elongated slot 24 whichflts upon the'rib l! of the cap and is also provided with corner notches. The cap has reinforcing corner lugs. I! which occupy the corner notches of the blade'when all parts of the razor ,are assembled. The capabove described is of more or less conventional design and is not in itself a .part of the present invention. While it may be constructed of shown herein.

The guard member 14,

sheet metal it is not so herein shown as deof the razor on the face of the user, so obviating a i ned t cooperate t t can however of novel construction. It is formed from sheet metal of uniform thickness and its transverse contour is convex so that a blade clamped between it and the concave blade-engaging surface of the cap will be held in a condition of transverse curvature. The guard is also rectangular in outline, being somewhat wider than the cap. The guard has a flatbody portion which merges outwardly on both sides into concave intermediate zones or sections l5. Each of these concave sections is provided, for the sake of lightness, with a pair of elongated recesses l6, spaced from each other and from the ends of the guard. Each of the concave zones IS in turn merges into an unperforated downturned flange l|.- The juncture between the concave sections 15 and the downturned flanges ll comprise outwardly convex longitudinal shoulders and in these shoulders are placed a series of transverse corrugations or scored lines ll. The scoring i8 is located upon the guard immediately beyond the cutting edge to be further weakened by slotting to receive the rib l2. In accordance with my invention, however, the metal displaced to make room for the rib is utilized to stiffen the guard and so three functions are served by a single expedient, that is, by displacing metal to form the diamondshaped depression l9, space is provided for the rib of the cap, upstanding walls are formed which provide stiffness to the whole structure of the guard itself and upright slots are provided by I which the cap is located by the fitting of its rib ofthe razorblade and contacts the face of the ing ribs for the sheet metal of the guard, and

are extremely effective in stiffening the guard member, causing it to maintain its shape in use and preventing distortion evenif dropped. The walls of the depression converge symmetrically toward opposite ends of the guard. A central hole 20 for, the reception of the threaded shank ll of the cap is provided in the bottom wall of the depression IS. The walls of the depression are, moreover, slotted 'where they converge at each end or vertex to receive and fit upon the ends of the rib I! of the cap and so locate the cap positively in shaving relation with respect to the guard.

The thin flexible sheet steel blade 23 used in the razor has already been referred to. A blade of conventional shape is shown in Fig. 12 but any blade perforated to flt accurately upon the rib [2 or to engage its ends would be suitable for use in the described assembly. The razor includes a handle 25 internally threaded to receive the threaded stem II 'on the cap and ro-' I2 into the slots.

While I have shown my invention as embodied in theguard member, it would be within the scope of the invention to construct the cap of sheet metal and stiffen it by a walled depression within the terms of the appended claims.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail a. preferred embodiment thereof I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters 'Patent:

1. A safety razor comprising cap and guard members, one having a projecting blade-locating rib and the other comprising a sheet metal body having a depression in its blade-engaging face defined by relatively thin, sheet metal side walls which stiffen theguard against'bending and converge toward both ends of the guard into engagement with the rib of the other member for accurately locating the same.

2. A safety razor comprising a cap having a projecting blade-locating rib, and a sheet metal guard member having an elongated shallow dome moulded therein and providing a recess for receiving the rib of the cap with clearance throughout the major portion of its length andsurrounding sheet metal walls which stiffen the tatable to clamp the cap and guard members with the blade 23 between them. It will be understood that the cap andguard members determine by their edges the-edge exposure of the blade as suggested in'Fig. 13. Theyv must between them be capable of exertingsufflcient clamping pressure upon the blade to hold it securely-in the proper predetermined shaving position and to support the blade on both sides adjacent to its shaving edges. The cap ill above described is naturally rigid on account of its'solid construction and the sheet metal guard M by reason of its configuration has'sufiicient rigidity imparted to it for a satisfactory performance of its'functions. A flatsheet metal'member would not be rigid enough to serve the purpose of the novel guard herein disclosed and it would have guard member against bending and converge substantially into engagement with the ends of the rib of the cap.

-3. A safety razor comprising a caphaving a con ve blad -engaging face with a projecting rib therein, and a sheet metal guard having a convex blade-engaging face in which is moulded a diamond-shaped depressionhaving guard stiffening walls of sheet metal which engage said rib at its ends to locate the cap and diverge toward the center of the guard into spaced relation with respect to said rib.

4. A safety razor having, incombination, a ribbed cap, and a sheet metal guard having a depression therein formed by endwise converging walls of sheet metal, the vertices of said walls being slotted to provide rib-engaging stops for locating the cap by fitting the ends of the rib while thebody of the depression receives the intermediate portion'of the rib with clearance.

5. In a safety razor, a ribbed cap and a guard of pressed sheet metal having a transversely con- I shaped rib-receiving depression sunk symmetrically in its major axis with its widest part enclosing said depression and its ends provided with slots extending through the walls of the depression and into the surrounding metal of the guard, for locating the cap by engaging the ends of its rib. 

